


Our Names

by Taste



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:27:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27800743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste/pseuds/Taste
Summary: Shane doesn’t believe in a higher calling and considers the name on his wrist a bad joke.
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 10
Kudos: 112





	Our Names

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone. That's my first work in English, and I am very grateful to [ Zarathustrate](/users/Zarathustare%20/) for beta-reading this mess.

Shane doesn’t believe in a higher calling and considers the name on his wrist a bad joke. However, his wideband watch does a good job of hiding the sweeping "Steven" on his wrist, and no one, except himself, his family, and Sara, suspects that Shane belongs to a very small percentage of people chosen by "summum bonum". And this is exactly what the man wants. He had met many Stevens in his life, and none of them were attractive to him. And to be honest, Shane is actually more, if not entirely, into women. So, with a calm heart, he had forgotten that there was his soulmate somewhere, and now never walks without his watch.

Not that it had always been this way. Even though having a soulmate doesn’t guarantee that you will ever meet them or that you will love them, even if you met them, it still makes you special. And God knows Shane loves to be special. In his youth, he didn’t hide the name on his wrist, which couldn’t be confused with a tattoo due to the fact that the name wasn’t written with ink, but entwined with his own veins. However, this didn’t stop some people. And while couples in love tattooing each other's names on their wrists were cute and rather frequent occasions, people who wrote someone’s name in order to deceive its owner inspired bewilderment. Because no matter how skillful the tattoo artist is, it is impossible to confuse a soulmate with someone else.

Shane stopped showing others his soul mark after one of his classmates, Steven, fell in love with him and forged Shane's name on his wrist and then told everyone that they were soulmates. And the most idiotic thing was that many believed him, and when Shane told his classmates that it was a lie, they decided that he was trying to deceive them, and picked the side of the "rejected soulmate". It was a pretty ugly story, at the end of which Shane decided that he had had enough and hid the name behind a watch strap. Then he started going out with his first girlfriend and realized that he didn’t need a soulmate to be happy, or, as in this particular case, to have a healthy, satisfying relationship.

A lot of time had passed since then. Shane graduated from high school long ago, and his classmates were in the distant past. Nowadays he had an amazing job at Buzzfeed with co-host, Ryan, the best roommate in the world, Sara, and a bunch of amazing colleagues and friends. All in all, Shane was pretty happy with his life and the way things went. 

It changed when he and Ryan became friends outside of work. They always communicated easily and naturally and without a doubt were one of the best Buzzfeed teams, but for the time being, each had their own separate personal life. But as time passed, they began to hang out together outside of work. And one day they went to a bar. 

They were drinking and chatting when two beautiful girls sat down at their table and started flirting. Shane was happy about it, even if he was fine with Ryan only. What surprised him was that Ryan seemed completely uninterested. Then Shane realized that he couldn’t remember a single time when he saw him with a girl.

That distracted him so much that the girls sensed their disinterest and left. Shane would have been sorry, but their departure allowed him to talk with Ryan about his observations. Ryan was a little embarrassed and said that he was "most likely gay". Shane was almost satisfied with this answer but then recalled that he had not seen Ryan with the guys either, and the phrase "most likely" confused him a little. At this age, who didn't already know their orientation? Shane continued to ask questions. Ryan blushed even more, and Shane was a little fascinated by that sight and almost missed Ryan’s words: "I have a soulmate."

Shane was lucky that he wasn’t drinking anything. Ryan's words startled him and knocked the ground out from under his feet. 

Meanwhile, Ryan continued, "He has a male name, so it turns out that I'm most likely gay. Not that I know for sure. I haven't met him yet." 

Shane was still trying to make sense of himself in this new reality where he was not the only person with a soulmate when Ryan's words came to his mind. 

He couldn’t resist saying, “What do you mean, you don’t know for sure? Didn’t your previous dates help you understand your sexuality?” 

Ryan looked at him with wide eyes and replied, "I told you that I have a soulmate and that I haven’t met him yet. What kind of dates are you talking about?"

Shane felt like reality flipped too often that day. His brilliant co-host, his friend, Ryan, was a virgin waiting for his soulmate.

Since that evening, Shane has spent most of his free time thinking about Ryan, Ryan's soulmate, and how it affected him. It never occurred to Shane to keep his virginity for his soulmate. Naturally, he had heard of that practice but never thought that there was something real behind it; life was different from fairy tales written for tremulous, naive romantics. Shane was so surprised that he simply forgot to tell Ryan about his own soulmate. Now it seemed to be a little late for that. Moreover, he missed the opportunity to say it without being accused of being distrustful and secretive.

And now Shane has no idea how to tell Ryan that he has a soulmate too. He doesn’t even know whether he needs to do it or not. Shane is pretty sure that it won't change anything anyway. Ryan believes that soulmates should only be with each other, that soulmate will sooner or later be found, that a name on his wrist is a gift and a blessing when Shane doesn’t believe in it even a little bit. And Ryan is unlikely to understand Shane's disdain and skepticism about soul marks. However, Shane can’t shake off the thought that Ryan's convictions have their own disarming charm. Moreover, Shane can do nothing with the desire to see the name of Ryan's soulmate.

Shane starts to watch Ryan almost manically. He often catches himself looking at the wrist of his co-host and trying to make out something behind the strap of the watch. But Ryan, like Shane himself, never takes it off and does not show anyone the name of his soulmate. But while Shane doesn’t do this because he doesn’t want people to know that he has a soulmate at all, Ryan hides the name due to the belief that it is too personal. After all, he can always see if there is “Ryan” on the wrist of a person with his soulmate’s name. He never said the name and doesn’t show interest in the wrists of any of his acquaintances, from which Shane concludes that Ryan’s soulmate has a rather rare name.

Day after day, Shane's curiosity grows. It gets to the point that he invites Ryan to the sauna, hoping that there he will take off the damn watch. To his dismay, this does not happen. Shane could have asked him to remove it, but then he would have to explain why he didn’t take off his own watch. Much to Shane's annoyance after the sauna he has a hell of a lot of memories of tanned, smooth skin, strong muscles underneath, slender legs, and a perfect ass that flashed once when they were getting changed. God, Shane hates Ryan’s soulmate, who would get that piece of perfection. When and how he began to perceive his co-host like that, Shane doesn’t know and prefers not to think about it. In general, after the ill-fated sauna, he is so exhausted and dissatisfied that he begins to snap at others.

“Shane Alexander Madej!” Sara's voice rings with indignation. “If you address me in that tone one more time, I will break something on your head and move to my girlfriend’s place.”

Ryan suddenly looks up from the couch and asks, “Is Shane’s middle name ‘Alexander’?”

Sara turns to answer him, but Ryan, without waiting for a response, gets up from the couch and walks over to Shane. Shane looks at him and tries to figure out what's going on. Ryan walks up to him, takes his hand, and unceremoniously bares his wrist, dropping his watch to the floor. After seeing the name on it he falls to his knees and starts laughing hysterically. Sara, out of harm's way, goes to her room, and Shane stands and watches how his co-host, friend, and more recently the object of his unrequited love, is going crazy. Ryan, still laughing, takes off his watch and, holding out his hand, says:

“Ryan Steven Bergara at your service."


End file.
